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Homes that Work

Residential architecture mustadapt to the needs of home-workers, says Frances Holliss

WordsWordsFrances Holliss

The way we inhabit our buildings andour cities is changing radically andrapidly. More than one in seven of theUK working population now worksmainly from home – and millions

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more part-time. Ninety-!ve per cent ofUK businesses employ fewer than tenpeople. Though these represent a thirdof all employment and a !"h of allturnover, most are – or have been atsome point – run from their owners’homes. This hidden workforce hasnearly doubled in the past 20 years inthe UK and continues to grow. But wedon’t design for it at the urban or thebuilding scale. Mainstream housing isstill designed as somewhere we cancook, eat, bathe, sleep, watch television,bring up children, and nothing else.

Working in the home – or living at theworkplace – poses real challenges, butan analysis of the disadvantagesidenti!ed by more than 100 home-based workers (from across the socialspectrum, in a wide variety ofoccupations from urban, suburban andrural contexts, internationally) showsthat they could almost all be solvedthrough design. Inappropriate space,problems with occupational identityand social isolation are prominentissues. If designers could think aboutthese ideas it would help overcomesome of the problems.

Operating in a wide range of

More than one in sevenMore than one in sevenof the UK workingof the UK workingpopulation now workspopulation now worksmainly from home – butmainly from home – butwe don’t design for it atwe don’t design for it atthe urban or the buildingthe urban or the buildingscale”scale”

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occupations, from car mechanic tosenior so"ware manager, journalist toarchitect, baker to childminder, home-based workers’ spatial andenvironmental needs are extremelyvaried and not generally easilyaccommodated in standard one-, two-or three-bedroom #ats. Squeezingwork into inappropriately designedhome spaces, or home into workplace,o"en leads to frustration, ine$ciencyand stress. Home-workers need agencyover the design of their space. Self-build provides one route to achievingthis. Eighty per cent of the 360 modestterraced houses in Nieuw Leyden, aDutch self-build scheme planned byMVRDV, include a studio, workshop,shop or o$ce.

Designed-in #exibility and adaptabilityo%ers a second route. In Maastricht’sPiazza Céramique workhomedevelopment by Jo Janssen Architects(pictured above), each o$ce-apartmenthas two front doors, generous #oor-to-ceiling heights, non-structural internalwalls and carefully placed circulationand service zones, allowing people toinhabit space as they choose, andchange it over time.

Most home-based workers, inhabitingbuildings designed purely as dwellings,are invisible in the city. For some this isbad for their sense of themselves in theworld, but design can counter this.Functional representation, where thedual function of a workhomedevelopment is expressedarchitecturally, as in the traditional

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weaver’s house, can support a sense ofoccupational identity, allowing bothhome and workspace to be legible inthe city.

Piazza Céramique adopts adiametrically opposite approach:functional neutrality, its facadeinscrutable. Any of the identical pairsof French windows could open onto adentist’s surgery or a family home, anarchitect’s o$ce or a small apartment,and this – maybe counter-intuitively –also relieves the home-worker’s senseof invisibility.

Home-based workers’ most commonand urgently reported problem,however, is social isolation. O"eninhabiting homes designed primarilyas a series of private interior spaces,people working at home can easilydevelop depression. This is less of anissue for those who are part of largerhouseholds, or those whose workinvolves interactions with the public,like child-minders or therapists. For thesolitary home-worker, however, thesense of isolation can be devastating.Workhome developments that createimmediately accessible (and free)public or collective spaces can alleviatethis. At Nieuw Leyden, for example,single-aspect houses open onto shared

Home-based workers’Home-based workers’most common andmost common andurgently reportedurgently reportedproblem is socialproblem is socialisolation”isolation”

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paved and landscaped pedestriancourts littered with picnic tables thatbuzz with neighbours chatting at co%eeand teatime. Maastricht’s PiazzaCéramique is organised around acentral atrium with a slightly hotel-likeground #oor lounge that is o"enpopulated with clients waiting forappointments and occupants taking abreak. Parties happen in each sharedspace, building local social networksand a sense of neighbourliness.

With home-working only set to grow,such thinking should be be a feature ofall residential architecture.

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